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Originally Posted by whl626
Shane, an English professor once told me that he was uncomfortable with ' are you done ... ' instead of ' Have you finished .... ' . He said British people don't identify with Americans over this phrase ' are you done... '. That is why I feel surprised to see that ' Are you done with the phone ? ' is a common sentence in England :P |
IMO, I think it's becoming common because of TV. Much of British TV is from the US (as well as Australia & New Zealand), and so our exposure to AE is pretty constant. It's only natural that after some time, people will start using it.
Of course, traditionally speaking, BE doesn't use it (and some people don't like hearing it), but AE and BE are slowly getting mixed up with each other nowadays, and so the fine line between these two styles of English is becoming finer. ;)
I certainly wouldn't have a problem with a British person saying "Are you done with the phone?" to me. :)